This disclosure relates to an aircraft landing gear actuator. More particularly, this disclosure relates to an actuator that when mechanically jammed will not prevent the landing gear from fully deploying.
Aircraft employ landing gear arrangements that must be reliably deployed from a stowed position during landing. In one type of arrangement, the landing gear is rotated about a pivot by an extend/retract actuator. A lock-stay is biased over-center to lock the landing gear in a deployed position. To retract the landing gear, an unlock actuator pulls the lock-stay from over-center, which enables the extend/retract actuator to retract the landing gear to the stowed position. Both the extend/retract and unlock actuators are typically hydraulically powered. It is desirable to use electromechanical actuators to benefit from the increasing use of electrically powered aircraft systems.
Landing gear actuators must reliably deploy in the event of a mechanical jam within the actuator. If electromechanical actuators are employed, they also must deploy in the event of a main power failure. What is needed is a jam tolerant extend/retract actuator that enables the landing gear to be fully deployed regardless of a mechanical jam or loss of main power.